MOVIEmeter
SEE RANK
Down 2,971 this week

Brubaker (1980)

 -  Drama  -  20 June 1980 (USA)
6.9
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 6.9/10 from 7,873 users  
Reviews: 31 user | 23 critic

The new warden of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate.

Director:

Writers:

(screenplay), (story), 3 more credits »
0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 2369 titles created 4 months ago
 
a list of 10000 titles created 2 months ago
 
a list of 65 titles created 22 Apr 2012
 
a list of 250 titles created 27 Apr 2011
 
a list of 30 titles created 05 Jan 2012
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: Brubaker (1980)

Brubaker (1980) on IMDb 6.9/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of Brubaker.
Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win. See more awards »
Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

The Candidate (1972)
Comedy | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.1/10 X  

Bill McKay is a candidate for the U.S. Senate from California. He has no hope of winning, so he is willing to tweak the establishment.

Director: Michael Ritchie
Stars: Robert Redford, Peter Boyle, Melvyn Douglas
Rain Man (1988)
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8/10 X  

Selfish yuppie Charlie Babbitt's father left a fortune to his savant brother Raymond and a pittance to Charlie; they travel cross-country.

Director: Barry Levinson
Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valeria Golino
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.2/10 X  

Will Hunting, a janitor at MIT, has a gift for mathematics but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.

Director: Gus Van Sant
Stars: Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Ben Affleck
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.8/10 X  

Upon admittance to a mental institution, a brash rebel rallies the patients to take on the oppressive head nurse, a woman he views as more dictator than nurse.

Director: Milos Forman
Stars: Michael Berryman, Peter Brocco, Louise Fletcher
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.7/10 X  

A just-divorced man must learn to care for his son on his own, and then must fight in court to keep custody of him.

Director: Robert Benton
Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Jane Alexander
Gran Torino (2008)
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.2/10 X  

Disgruntled Korean War vet Walt Kowalski sets out to reform his neighbor, a young Hmong teenager, who tried to steal Kowalski's prized possession: his 1972 Gran Torino.

Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Clint Eastwood, Christopher Carley, Bee Vang
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.9/10 X  

English teacher John Keating inspires his students to a love of poetry and to seize the day.

Director: Peter Weir
Stars: Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke
The Verdict (1982)
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.7/10 X  

A lawyer sees the chance to salvage his career and self-respect by taking a medical malpractice case to trial rather than settling.

Director: Sidney Lumet
Stars: Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, Jack Warden
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.5/10 X  

Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation for his daughter's attractive friend.

Director: Sam Mendes
Stars: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch
Awakenings (1990)
Biography | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

The victims of an encephalitis epidemic many years ago have been catatonic ever since, but now a new drug offers the prospect of reviving them.

Director: Penny Marshall
Stars: Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, Julie Kavner
Philadelphia (1993)
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

When a man with AIDS is fired by a conservative law firm because of his condition, he hires a homophobic small time lawyer as the only willing advocate for a wrongful dismissal suit.

Director: Jonathan Demme
Stars: Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Roberta Maxwell
Comedy | Drama | Sci-Fi
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8/10 X  

An insurance salesman/adjuster discovers his entire life is actually a TV show.

Director: Peter Weir
Stars: Jim Carrey, Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
...
John Deach
...
Larry Lee Bullen
...
Walter
...
Roy Purcell
Tim McIntire ...
Huey Rauch
Richard Ward ...
Abraham Cook
...
Zaranska
...
C.P. Woodward
...
Rory Poke
...
Carol
...
Eddie Caldwell
...
Wendel
Edit

Storyline

When the new Warden comes in disguised as an inmate, he sees first hand all the corruption and scams the guards and prison officials and running. When he reveals himself, and starts to implement reforms to stop the corruption, the local business community, who had been benefiting from the scams, fights back, and the corrupt southern prison system, starts making political trouble for the new warden. Written by Brian W Martz <B.Martz@Genie.com>

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Taglines:

The most wanted man in Wakefield prison is the warden! See more »

Genres:

Drama

Certificate:

R | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

20 June 1980 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

As Grades do Inferno  »

Filming Locations:

 »

Box Office

Gross:

$37,100,000 (USA)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

Over 6500 people applied to be extras in the movie whilst the film itself features up to 1000 prisoners at any one time. The movie features a number of retired prison guards from various jails including the formerly active Junction City Prison where this film was shot. When casting, the production contacted half-way houses, employment offices and parole officers to find newly released ex-cons. Director Stuart Rosenberg was keen to use as many real-life ex-convicts as possible because he maintained that they move and talk a particularly way, and that was usually very cautiously. See more »

Goofs

In a restaurant scene, a Conn's Potato Chip sales display can be seen. Conn's are only made and sold in Ohio, not Arkansas. See more »

Quotes

Zaranska: Let's just take a little bit off around the ears.
[hands barber $2]
Barber: Costs five to get you no haircut now, Zaranska. Two only gets you a crew-cut.
Zaranska: Fuck, I could use this on a bed.
Barber: It'll all come off then. Maybe an ear with it.
Barber: [later] What's it be, my man?
Henry Brubaker: [hands barber $5] Leave the ears.
See more »

Connections

Referenced in Mystery Science Theater 3000: Teen-Age Crime Wave (1994) See more »

Soundtracks

"Galveston"
(uncredited)
Written by Jimmy Webb
Unknown performer
Heard in Brubaker's car
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.

User Reviews

A true story...and things still ain't changed much.
13 November 2000 | by (Louisiana) – See all my reviews

I saw this movie with my wife, who wasn't thrilled that I brought this back from the video store. She's the type that pulls movies off of the "new release" shelf without fail. But as we got into this movie, she changed her mind.

Robert Redford plays Henry Brubaker, a prison warden who is recruited to reform brutal Wakefield Penitentiary, in Arkansas. The conditions are terrible, with men sleeping in puddles of mop water and being regularly beaten, tortured, and murdered. Brubaker gets a handle on the conditions there by sneaking into the jail disguised as an incoming criminal.

When he finally begins his tenure as warden, he meets strong resistance from the community, which is used to the prison being the source of local income and slave labor. The scenes in which Brubaker has to deal with the morally corrupt prison board are powerful and captivating. A good view.

Cinematography is questionable, and the editing TV movie-like. Acting is superb, and the local color interesting. I give the film a B-.

Things to watch for: white trash sister, Morgan Freeman's debut, rape scene.


16 of 17 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
Brad Pitt? paulmoran99
Great cast oscarflix
need help spectre6888
Zaranska (played by Jon VanNess) sdexec24
morgan freeman's character cneilp
what happened to that trivia item? or am i mistaken? barneygumble742
Discuss Brubaker (1980) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?